Automation Is Not the Job Killer You Think It Is

Summary

Over the past decade, the enterprise software industry has transformed our ability to weave interconnected and intelligent architectures that enable organizations to seamlessly connect, manage and govern their processes and workflows.
 
Given that more than 80% of global businesses are planning process automation initiatives, this moment in time is likely a crucial turning point in your business process automation journey. However, amid the rapid adoption of more tools and services, a worrying question arises for IT managers and business leaders: is there such a thing as too much automation? Might the adoption of a fully automated tech stack render IT roles obsolete?
 
The answer to that question should be a resounding no. But what, exactly, does that mean?
 

Automation provides solutions tailored to the modern world

Businesses are increasingly realizing that the siloed legacy tech stacks they’ve operated on for decades are hindering genuine digital transformation efforts. As these organizations transition and “replatform,” their outdated systems create fertile ground for inefficient workarounds and mount complexity. They obscure process details within convoluted lines of code and intricate batch processing, making them challenging to discern and document. This lack of visibility into processes makes collaboration, particularly between business and IT teams, nearly impossible.
 
With any business process at scale, technology plays a starring role. Automation emerges as a solution to not only unify various processes, streamline day-to-day operations and ensuring cohesion in a fragmented digital environment, but also by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), so businesses can handle vast volumes of unstructured data, transforming them into actionable and predictive insights.
 
Infrastructure automation plays a critical role in overseeing resources and carrying out tasks with minimal manual intervention. It is essential for managing IT environments, whether on-premises or in the cloud, covering everything from operating systems to virtual machines. By orchestrating each component precisely, automation reduces errors and drives digital transformation, making solutions more tailored to the complexities of the modern world–and give employees more time and opportunities to make more impactful contributions.
 

Businesses still can’t succeed without people

Enterprise operations are as complex as the systems of the human body. All departments and contributors must succeed in their distinct roles yet work together as a stable and consistent unit. Achieving efficiency within a complex structure—body or business—requires that every process be seamless from start to finish. But it’s still people who excel at creating processes that work.
 
For CIOs and IT teams, this has historically meant their roles were devoted to maintaining legacy systems and ensuring basic operations. Today, humans don’t have the time or capacity to complete as many tasks that are necessary to keep huge numbers of end-to-end processes flowing error-free. And as seasoned experts with knowledge of these legacy tools retire, critical process details are at risk of being lost. Additionally, these tools often require substantial infrastructure and are burdened with poor licensing models that drive up operational costs.
 
Automation solutions providing end-to-end visibility into various tools, processes and data sources enable human team members to focus on solving the next business problem and reaching the next business outcome, rather than spending their valuable time monitoring every process and transaction.
 

An effective automation strategy enables all employees

Collaboration between IT, data and other departments is critical to successful automation initiatives. Traditionally, there has been a divide between technical experts and business users. Bridging this gap ensures that automations properly align with strategic objectives. An effective automation platform enables non-technical users while delivering the power and flexibility that IT professionals require.

Even with a suite of fully integrated automated systems, businesses cannot succeed without the contributions of people. Executives and team leaders can reassure their employees by reminding them of this simple fact: automation only works alongside people—whose contributions remain at the center.